This invention relates to improvements in building construction, providing a novel connection between two structural members with a connector that can be bent during installation so that a single connector can be used for a variety of possible angles of orientation between the structural members. The connector of the present invention has great utility when trusses are used to frame two intersecting roof planes.
The inside corner of two intersecting roof planes is called a valley. When rafters are used for the framing of the intersecting roof planes, the valleys are often supported by valley rafters that extend from the outside walls of the building to the ridge or header. Valley rafters support large loads and should be engineered. Jack rafters support the area between the valley rafter and the ridge or header.
In recent years, it has become commonplace to also build roofs with trusses rather than rafters. Framing a valley with trusses is a simple matter of attaching a series of progressively smaller trusses to the top chords of the trusses of the main roof. The main roof trusses do not have to be oversized since the only extra weight they will carry is the dead weight of the jack trusses themselves.
The smaller trusses that rest upon the trusses of the main roof are called valley jack trusses. One method taught in the prior art for connecting valley jack trusses to the top chords of the main roof trusses is to rip the bottom chords of the valley jack trusses to the slope of the main-roof pitch, and then toe-nail the bottom chords of the valley trusses to the top chords of the main roof trusses. Unfortunately, this has the draw back of requiring an extra operation to be performed on the valley jack trusses that cannot be performed until the slope of the main roof truss is known.
Another method practiced is to forego ripping the bottom chord. In this case, the toe-nail connection of the valley jack trusses can be less secure and often the trusses need to be propped up with shims or braces until the sheathing is placed on the top chords of the valley jack trusses.
The present invention provides an improved connection between a valley jack truss and a main roof truss where the connection is stable without ripping the bottom chord of the valley jack truss.